This month marks 2 years since Yvonne Mnisi, Pretty Nkambule and Solomon Nyerende were trapped at the Vantage Goldfields mine.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Mpumalanga province is blaming the minister’s snail pace in retrieving the bodies of the three workers.
Provincial secretary Thabo Mokoena says the federation is disappointed in the manner the department of mineral resources and “responsible stakeholders” have been dealing with the Lily Mine issue.
“The federation is disappointed because all efforts to retrieve the trapped bodies of the 3 workers have since been stalled without proper explanation,” Mokoena said.
“And the painful agony of the next of kin of the 3 miners is disregarded and ignored,” he said.
The workers vanished on 5 February 2016 when a shaft at the Barberton mine collapsed, swallowing the container they were working inside of.
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The Vantage Goldfields pleaded broke, saying they would need R200 million to rescue the workers and didn’t have that amount.
“We are disappointed that the operations of both affected mines, that is the Babrock and Lily Mines remain suspended while workers are left in the ledge with no income and means of survival and that there are still outstanding payments of rescued mine workers who have not received a cent as compensation since the promises made by the Minister of DMR Mr Mosebenzi Zwane,” Mokoena said.
“Cosatu calls upon the department and Minister Mosebenzi Zwane to have conscious and empathy by ensuring that the crisis is resolved as matter of urgency and the affected families find closure,” he said.
(edited by MLM)
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